by Our Foreign Desk

POLICE reported in Kathmandu last night that the death toll resulting from Saturday’s earthquake has reached 5,045, with a further 19 people perishing on Mount Everest.

The quake killed 61 people in India, while 25 died in China’s province of Tibet.

More than 7,000 people are in hospitals, but rescuers and aid teams have still been unable to reach remote hillside communities close to the epicentre of the quake which have been cut off by landslides.

It will take time for supplies to reach survivors in these communities, said World Food Programme emergencies officer Geoff Pinnock yesterday in the village of Majuwa, 16 miles from Gorkha town, a staging area for relief efforts to worst-hit areas.

Nearby, five lorry loads of rice, cooking oil and sugar stood on a field fringed with banana and acacia trees, waiting for a helicopter to carry the supplies to remote villages.

The UN food agency will deliver shipments of high-energy biscuits to areas without enough water for cooking, Mr Pinnock said.

“Under normal circumstances, a government would have the capacity to respond to maybe 10 or 20 or 30,000 people in need, but, if you’re looking at 8 million, as we are here, you need a bit of time to scale everything up,” he added.

UN humanitarian co-ordinator Jamie McGoldrick said that the response so far to the UN appeal for $415 million (£270m) to help provide shelter, water and sanitation, emergency health, food, and protection has been encouraging but must be maintained.